MSU Women's Tennis Falls At No. 14 Arkansas, 5-2

Sunday, April 6

Fayetteville, Ark.

12:00 p.m.

Mississippi State

Arkansas

Lady Bulldog Netters Open SEC With UGA, UT To Close Homestand

MSU Women's Tennis Falls At No. 14 Arkansas, 5-2

April 06, 2008 | Women's Tennis

By: hailstate.com

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. ? The 68th-ranked Mississippi State women's tennis team fell to #14 Arkansas 5-2 Sunday on the road. The Lady Bulldogs dropped to 7-10 overall with the loss and 0-9 in league play. Arkansas improved to 14-7, 7-3.

The Razorbacks started the match with a sweep of the doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. On court No. 3, the MSU duo of DeAndra Saddler and Valeriya Makarycheva fell to Arkansas' Audrey Bordeleau and Anouk Tigu 8-2. Then, on court No. 2, MSU's Radka Ferancova and Renee Joseph were defeated by Maryori Franco and Nanar Airapetian 8-6. To finish off doubles, UA's 24th-ranked tandem of Aurelija Miseviciute and Ela Kaluder defeated Martina Banikova and Elna de Villiers 8-4.

In singles play, Arkansas took a 3-0 match lead with two straight-set victories in the first two matches completed. On court No. 5 Airapetian defeated Makarycheva 6-2, 6-1. Then Miseviciute, the nation's top-ranked player at present, posted a 6-2, 6-2 victory over State's Banikova at the No. 1 position.

Mississippi State would get a 6-2, 6-2 victory on court No. 3 from Ferancova, who downed Arkansas' Franco.

The match-clincher for the Lady ?Backs would come at No. 6, where UA's Bordeleau defeated MSU's Tatiana Feit 6-4, 6-1.

UA's 62nd-ranked Kaluder would then defeat State's 112th-ranked Joseph 6-2, 6-3 for UA's fifth point of the afternoon. MSU would finish off the match with a win on court No. 4, as de Villiers defeated Arkansas' Tigu 6-2, 7-6(4).

Head coach Tracy Lane and the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs will now get ready to head back down to Baton Rouge on Wednesday, April 9, to finish a match with LSU that was started on Friday, April 4 but postponed due to rain.

#14 Arkansas 5, #68 Mississippi State 2
April 6, 2008 ? Fayetteville, Ark.

DOUBLES ? #24 Aurelija Miseviciute/Ela Kaluder (UA) def. Martina Banikova/Elna de Villiers (MSU) 8-4; Maryori Franco and Nanar Airapetian (UA) def. Radka Ferancova/Renee Joseph (MSU) 8-6; Audrey Bordeleau/Anouk Tigu (UA) def. Valeriya Makarycheva/DeAndra Saddler 8-2.
SINGLES ? #1 Miseviciute (UA) def. Banikova (MSU) 6-2, 6-2; #62 Kaluder (UA) def #112 Joseph (MSU) 6-2, 6-3; Ferancova (MSU) def. Franco (UA) 6-2, 6-2; de Villiers (MSU) def. Tigu (UA) 6-2, 7-6(4); Airapetian (UA) def. Valeriya Makarycheva (MSU) 6-2, 6-1; Bordeleau (UA) def.Tatiana Feit (MSU) 6-4, 6-1.

(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)